A communication system in a device participating in a communication network may be capable of entering a power saving mode. For example, such a power saving mode (PSM) is included in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 wireless local area network (WLAN) standard (e.g., IEEE std. 802.11a, b, d or g, of, e.g., version IEEE Std 802.11, 1999 Edition; or IEEE Std 802.11a-1999, IEEE Std 802.11b-1999, IEEE Std 802.11b-1999/Cor 1-2001, IEEE Std 802.11d-2001, IEEE Std 802.11-1999 (R2003), and/or IEEE 802.11g-2003, etc.). The idea behind such a PSM is to reduce power consumption in a device during periods of inactivity by placing much of the communication system of the device in a low-power, or “sleep”, state. Control of power consumption may be of particular interest in wireless devices, particularly battery-powered devices, where power consumption control may extend battery life.
However, when a communication system of a device is in such a PSM, other devices, for example, an access point in the case of an IEEE 802.11-based WLAN, may need to buffer information destined for that device until the device comes out of the PSM. Therefore, while there may be significant reduction in power usage during a PSM period, such a PSM may result in significant delays. Due to such delays, the overall result may be that the device may have to be in an active mode for a longer period of time, to receive and process the buffered information, than would have been necessary if it had not been in the PSM. As a result, what appears at first glance to be a savings in power may ultimately result in the use of a greater amount of power when the device as a whole is considered.